Recycled Content in Steel

Steel is also made at minimills that use electric arc furnaces (EAF) to melt scrap iron and steel into new steel. These plants are located close to sources of scrap material and don’t have the ability to process raw iron ore. Some of the larger minimills can cold-roll steel but not typically to the highest grades—they can make sheet metal for ducts and studs but not for cars. Because EAFs at minimills use scrap almost exclusively, their products have very high levels of recycled content. Total U.S. EAF production for 2007 totaled 61 million tons.